A Sherlock Holmes Horror Scrapbook

[gloomy sundae]

Nov 23, 2013 11:30:57 GMT ripper said:

Hi Dem. Countess Dracula and Hands of the Ripper were the two that I have read. I wasn't really sure if I would like them but I ended up having a pretty good time with each one. I particularly liked CD and thought it was a shrewd move to switch the action to Hollywood in its golden age of scandals. Adams made a good job of making the main character both fascinating and repulsive at the same time. I preferred Adams HotR to that one written by Spenser Shew...hope that's his name...It really wasn't what I was expecting at all. Jill the Ripper, yes, but it is really Jill the Ripper rather than Jack's daughter as in the film. To be fair, I think the book was written prior to the film being made, so not the author's fault if novel and screenplay diverge, but as HotR is one of my favourite 70s Hammers I was disappointed that it wasn't much closer to what was seen on screen. I also see that there's a modern Captain Kronos. I have the original novelisation written to tie in to the film...does the new version change the setting/story substantially?

Rip, yes, i'm almost certain that Hammer's Hands Of The Ripper was adapted from J. Spencer Shew's novel - or, at least, a proof copy of it - which would account for the discrepancies: perhaps one of our resident Hammer heads can confirm this? Revisited the book earlier in the year off the back of reading Mr. Adams' delightful update, but ran out of steam. It's not very lively.

dem

[ripper]

Yes, it kind of limped along. I read it to the end but have not felt the urge since to give it another go.

[Dr Strange]

Nov 23, 2013 11:30:57 GMT ripper said:

I also see that there's a modern Captain Kronos. I have the original novelisation written to tie in to the film...does the new version change the setting/story substantially?

It's been a long time since I saw the film, but the setting of the book matches the film pretty closely (I think). The way he tells the story is odd though - multiple first-person, present-tense accounts of the events. I didn't enjoy it very much.

[ripper]

Thanks, Dr. S. Adams did a similar thing in Breath of God; moving the narrative to other characters' viewpoints, rather than relying solely on that of Watson, and I have to say that it put me off a bit. I'll probably download the Kindle sample and see how I get on with it.

[sadako]

Help! Anyone any images or recollections of a Sherlock Holmes activity set that, in retrospect, was a children's tie-in with Billy Wilder's PRIVATE LIFE OF SHERLOCK HOLMES!

Bought in South Lindon in the early 70s, it was playset designed for you to solve a mystery. I don't remember many contents, but it included a plastic magnifying glass and a cutout and assemble cardboard Loch Ness monster! It all came in a large rectangular transparent plastic bag with clip-together handles. Needless to say, I've no idea what happened to it...

[ripper]

I recently listened to a Sherlock Holmes collection by Donald Thomas entitled "Sherlock Holmes and the Ghosts of Bly." The second, and longest, tale is "The Ghosts of Bly" in which Holmes and Watson become involved in investigating the goings-on at Bly, the setting for Henry James classic "The Turn of the Screw." Victoria Temple is incarcerated in an asylum after being found guilty but insane of the murder of her young charge, Miles. Holmes and Watson are hired to discover the truth of what went on at Bly and if the ghosts of Quint and Miss Jessel are real.

[dem bones]

Rip, if it's Holmsian horror you're after, try Franklin Marsh's latest abomination, Dirty Sherly (you'll need to be logged in to access it)!

[ropardoe]

Paul Cornell's new (third) "Shadow Police" book, Who Killed Sherlock Holmes, is excellent.  Lots of Holmesy stuff in it, both relating to the stories themselves and to the TV versions (I have the feeling that Cornell has written an episode of the surprisingly entertaining Elementary). 

[ripper]

Thanks very much for the tips, Dem and Rosemary. I was actually a little surprised by the "Ghosts of Bly" story as I was expecting a much higher supernatural content than it delivered. It was also rather long; being an audio book I couldn't say what its page count would be, but it lasted about 3.5 hours, so perhaps short novel length.

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Jul 7, 2016 11:27:02 GMT ropardoe said:

(I have the feeling that Cornell has written an episode of the surprisingly entertaining Elementary). 

I've just got around to starting on 'Elementary', having seen the pilot at the time and not been particularly taken with it. But enough people have said it's worth sticking with, so I bought Season 1 on DVD. And I suspect Season 2 will be getting ordered very shortly. It doesn't have the instant 'Holmes' feel to it that the BBC's 'Sherlock' had from the outset, and there have been times when the main character has been introduced as Sherlock Holmes where I've half expected someone else on screen to laugh and ask if he's named after the famous fictional Victorian detective. But the characters have grown on me, and some nice Sherlockian detail has started to creep into the scripts with references to this Holmes's other cases. Very entertaining, so it's good to know I've got quite a few series ahead of me before I catch up with the latest episodes.

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

MX Publishing, who specialise in Holmesian literature and pastiche, have taken a macabre turn in Parts VII and VIII of their ongoing charity anthology series The MX Book of New Sherlock Holmes Stories, edited by David Marcum. Subtitled Eliminate the Impossible, Part VII deals with cases between 1880 and 1891 while Part VIII features cases from 1892 to 1905. The theme of both volumes is 'Holmes's encounters with seemingly impossible events - ghosts and hauntings, curses and mythical beasts, and more.'

My contributor copy of Part VIII - featuring my radio script version of The Adventure of the Pallid Mask, adapted from the story in Sherlock Holmes: The Impossible Cases (the unproduced script replacing a short story that was going to miss the deadline and which will appear in a subsequent volume in the series)- arrived this morning, and it's a hefty tome, over 570 pages. I'm looking forward to receiving my copy of Part VII from the books' Kickstarter campaign shortly.

[cromagnonman]

Here's one I've had to brush the cobwebs off of whilst retrieving from the archives.



Its been so long since I've read it that I can't now comment on whether the supernatural premises on which each of the six stories hangs is borne out as such or not. But I do remember it being tremendous fun to read.

The six stories are "The Wandering Corpse", "The Battersea Worm", "The Paddington Witch", "The Phantom Organ", "The Devil's Tunnel" and "The Horror of Hanging Wood". These are all stories adapted from a series broadcast on Radio 5 in the early 90s. Have never heard the original recordings myself and don't know if they've ever surfaced on Radio 4 Extra or been released commercially. 

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Sept 26, 2017 13:57:54 GMT cromagnonman said:

These are all stories adapted from a series broadcast on Radio 5 in the early 90s. Have never heard the original recordings myself and don't know if they've ever surfaced on Radio 4 Extra or been released commercially. 

The Unopened Casebook radio episodes were released not so long ago on CD. They're good fun, with enjoyable performances from Simon Callow and Nicky Henson as Holmes and Watson, and a nicely melodramatic atmosphere. The same author wrote a later series of Holmes pastiches which were read for the BBC by an up and coming young actor named Benedict Cumberbatch - who must have recorded them just before Sherlock catapulted him to international fame.

[cromagnonman]

Sept 26, 2017 15:37:35 GMT The Lurker In The Shadows said:

Sept 26, 2017 13:57:54 GMT cromagnonman said:

These are all stories adapted from a series broadcast on Radio 5 in the early 90s. Have never heard the original recordings myself and don't know if they've ever surfaced on Radio 4 Extra or been released commercially. 

The Unopened Casebook radio episodes were released not so long ago on CD. They're good fun, with enjoyable performances from Simon Callow and Nicky Henson as Holmes and Watson, and a nicely melodramatic atmosphere. The same author wrote a later series of Holmes pastiches which were read for the BBC by an up and coming young actor named Benedict Cumberbatch - who must have recorded them just before Sherlock catapulted him to international fame.

Ah, that's interesting to learn. Appreciate the tip.
I strongly suspect however that I would find it as difficult to listen to a radio Holmes that didn't have the voice of Clive Merrison as I do to watch a tv incarnation that isn't Jeremy Brett.

Apropos of nothing in particular; I found myself walking past Simon Callow on a London street the other week not once but twice and several hours apart too. He must have begun to wonder if I was stalking him. 

[The Lurker In The Shadows]

Sept 26, 2017 17:48:30 GMT cromagnonman said:

Ah, that's interesting to learn. Appreciate the tip.
I strongly suspect however that I would find it as difficult to listen to a radio Holmes that didn't have the voice of Clive Merrison as I do to watch a tv incarnation that isn't Jeremy Brett.

It's very different from the wonderful Clive Merrison series, that's for sure. It reminded me more of the old Rathbone and Bruce radio series - partly due to the use of organ music for stings and links, giving it an 'old time' feel - though without Watson waffling on incessantly about the merits of their sponsor, Petrie Wine. (I was frequently tempted to write an Imagination Theatre Holmes radio script with the sleuths hearing a dismal moan of horror that leads them to a client, with Watson pointing out that 'We were brought to you by a petrified whine.' Luckily a sliver of self respect prevented me actually doing so.)

Bert Coules, originator and chief adapter for the Merrison and Williams series and creator of the Merrison and Sachs series wrote a fascinating book on the series titled 221 BBC. It's a book I go back to regularly, as someone interested in Holmes and Watson, in their history on radio, and in the writing and adaptation process and details of the production itself.
www.wessexpress.com/html/221bbc.html